Beijing 2022 - Curling
Save for one appearance back in 1924, curling has been on the Olympic program since 1998, making it one of the newer sports at the Winter Games. That tournament back at the first-ever Winter Games in Chamonix, France, was male-only and included just three teams. The curling tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 will have men’s, women’s and mixed doubles draws. With the expansion of mixed doubles to 10 teams in 2022, 30 teams will compete in Beijing, the most ever.
Whatever the tournament, curling at the Games has traditionally been the domain of Canada, where the sport has long enjoyed widespread popularity. Canada leads in gold medals won (six) and in total medals (11) and has at least one gold medal in each event. The times may be changing, however.
Canada did win the gold medal in the Olympic debut of mixed doubles four years ago, but both the men’s and women’s teams failed to medal at the Games for the first time. It was the men of Team USA who knocked off the men of Canada in the semifinals, as the U.S. went on to win its historic first gold medal. That brings the U.S. medal total to two, and men’s skip John Shuster was there for both of them.
Shuster is back again leading his team’s gold-medal defense, while Tabitha Peterson returns on the women’s side but in a new position as skip. Chris Plys and Vicky Persinger will team up in mixed doubles, a fast-paced variant of curling that consists of teams of one man and one woman.
Curling in Beijing will take place at the National Aquatics Center, known as the Water Cube during the 2008 Summer Games, and now known as the Ice Cube after its transformation to host curling.
Updated on January 28, 2022.
After getting their first gold medal in 2018, can the U.S. men pull off a repeat in 2022? Only Canada has ever won back-to-back gold medals at the Games, winning three in a row from 2006 to 2014, but Team Shuster enters Beijing as the world’s No. 4 team. Lead John Landsteiner and second Matt Hamilton join Shuster in returning for Beijing, with third Tyler George retiring and being replaced by Plys, who had previously competed with Shuster as an alternate at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
A U.S. women’s curling team has never won an Olympic medal, something the experienced team for Beijing will be looking to change. The one newcomer to the women’s team is lead Tara Peterson, Tabitha’s sister, who is making her Olympic debut but has competed with her older sister for years. The Petersons are joined by Nina Roth at third — team skip in PyeongChang — and Becca Hamilton at second. The U.S. women come into Beijing fresh off of a bronze medal at the 2021 world championships, the first medal for a U.S. women’s team at worlds since 2006.
The Petersons aren’t the only curling siblings on Team USA. Matt and Becca Hamilton are back at the Games for a second time. Back in 2018 they also competed together in mixed doubles. Matt’s teammate Chris Plys is doing the double duty this time. He and Vicky Persinger will look to improve on the Hamiltons’ sixth-place finish in PyeongChang.
John Shuster (Duluth, Minnesota): Shuster is simply the most decorated U.S. curler in history: a nine-time national champion, world bronze medalist, now-five-time Olympian, the only American to win two Olympic medals and architect of the greatest moment in the program’s history four years ago. Shuster’s double takeout to score five in the eighth end of the gold-medal game against Sweden all but secured the hardware and made an unforgettable memory for U.S. curling fans. The 39-year-old will be looking to do it again in Beijing.
Tabitha Peterson (St. Paul, Minnesota): Peterson stepped into Nina Roth’s role as skip while Roth was out of action on maternity leave in the 2019-20 season, and the team didn’t miss a beat. Peterson, 32, has established herself as one of the top skips in the world in leading her team to the 2020 national championship and 2021 world bronze medal.
Vicky Persinger (Fairbanks, Alaska): One of two curlers making their Olympic debut, Persinger is the only one competing exclusively in mixed doubles. She and Plys have had a lot of success since they first teamed up for mixed doubles in 2018–19, taking second place at their first national championships in 2019 and winning it all in 2021. Persinger is also an accomplished curler in her own right, being a part of two national championships.
Feb. 2 – Round-robin play begins in mixed doubles
Feb. 8 – Mixed doubles bronze- and gold-medal games
Feb. 9 – Round-robin play begins in the men’s tournament
Feb. 10 – Round-robin play begins in the women’s tournament
Feb. 18 – Men’s bronze-medal game
Feb. 19 – Women’s bronze-medal game and men’s gold-medal game
Feb. 20 – Women’s gold-medal game